Renting an Academic Research Article Now Possible

Conducting scholarly research has become much easier thanks to DeepDyve, a company that makes “authoritative information more affordable and accessible to users who are unaffiliated with a college or university and therefore lack easy and affordable access to scholarly sources of information.”  They’re a Netflix for academic journals.

If you’re like me, access to journals is nearly impossible unless you have access to something like JStor–an incredibly expensive option for occasional use (although JStor may soon be improving access for individuals).  DeepDyve allows you to search for articles in one place and if you find what you’re seeking, provides two options:  rent or purchase.  Renting gives you read-only access (no printing or downloading allowed) for a low cost.  If you want to print or save it, you can purchase a pdf copy.   If you want to investigate it, they’ve made it easier by providing a 14-day free trial.

Among the journals they currently list that might be of interest to those working with historic places are:

  • Journal of Design History
  • Journal of Family History
  • History and Technology
  • Journal of the History of Collections
  • Museum History Journal
  • Oral History Review
  • Tourism Management
  • Journal of Planning History
  • Radical History Review
  • Journal of Urban History
  • Public Historian
  • Library and Information Science Research
  • Architectural Heritage
  • Journal of Museum Education
  • Museums and Social Issues
  • Hispanic American Historical Review

Although they carry thousands of journals at present, they’re missing ones I often use, such as History News, Journal of American History, Museum, and Reviews in American History, but they’re still in beta and I’m hoping it’s just a matter of time.

2 thoughts on “Renting an Academic Research Article Now Possible”

  2. Karen Jessup

    Max, Thanks so much for the lead. I’ve been working with the reference librarians in our small but venerable subscription library to locate just such a service. JSTOR, despite some new attempts at user-friendliness, is just too costly for a non-academic library. As a retired academic myself, I understand some of the JSTOR cost issues but I’m still of the opinion that research results are by definition to be shared broadly so that others may build upon them. This is one of my soapbox issues – the notion that only academically-affiliated researchers deserve to see the work of other researchers. Baloney.

    Like

Comments are closed.